


Better Together

by lilbluednacer



Series: Fear of Falling [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Scott and Lydia bond over their shitty dads, mentions of canonical child abuse, unapologetic Scott McCall appreciation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 13:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16388975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilbluednacer/pseuds/lilbluednacer
Summary: Sometimes Lydia wonders what she did to deserve a friend like Scott.





	Better Together

**Author's Note:**

> This was really just an excuse to write more platonic Scydia friendship, I brotop them so hard.

“Very nice Lydia, good work,” says the physical therapist, a tiny bird-like woman named Aimee who used to dance for the San Francisco Ballet back in the eighties. “I think we're all done for the day.”

“Thanks.” [Lydia](https://www.fashmates.com/set/lydia-40-1540154718592) offers her a small smile before she puts her Nikes back on and picks up her bag. “See you next week.”

Aimee pats her shoulder with one fine boned hand. “Take care.”

“You too.” Lydia tightens her ponytail as she crosses the small physical therapy room. She waves goodby to the receptionist sitting behind the desk in the lobby and pushes through the glass doors to go outside.

It's gotten cooler out since she'd gone in for her pt session an hour ago, a mild summer evening in San Francisco; Lydia takes her sweater out of her bag and pulls it over her head. She's sleeping at the girls’ apartment tonight and then going to Beacon Hills tomorrow for the weekend so she can hang out with Allison and she still hasn't packed yet, she pulls out her phone to call a car but then down the street the door to a coffee shop opens and Lydia slides her phone back in her bag, because walking out of the shop is a tall man in a crisp black suit and next to him, a scowl on his face, is Scott.

They turn in unison and start walking her way. Lydia wrinkles her forehead a little, confused, because she's never seen Scott look quite this irritated before and she has absolutely no idea who he's with. She holds up her arm to wave a little at him. “Scott!”

The scowl on his face washes away when he sees her, Scott waves back and hurries down the sidewalk to her, the man following behind him. 

“Lydia, hey,” Scott says, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “What are you doing here?”

“Physical therapy,” she answers, pointing behind herself at the building she just came out of.

The man puts his hand on Scott’s shoulder for a moment and Lydia doesn't miss the way he flinches at being touched. “Scott, who’s your friend?”

“This is Lydia. Lydia, this is my dad.”

“Oh,” she says, trying to cover the surprise she's sure she's broadcasting right now. As long as she's known Scott he's never so much as mentioned his father, Allison told her once that he and Nurse McCall got divorced a long time ago but Lydia had no idea Scott was in touch with him. “It's nice to meet you…”

“Special Agent McCall.” He gives her a slick smile and Lydia warily shakes his hand when he offers it. “Scott, you have time for dinner? Lydia, you're welcome to join us.”

“I can't,” Scott says.

His father makes an irritated noise. “Scott, would you just” -

“I said no,” Scott says hotly. “That wasn't part of the deal, you got what you wanted, so why don't you just go?”

Lydia stares at him, mystified; she's never seen Scott be rude to anyone before. If his dad is embarrassed at Scott’s behavior he doesn't show it, just shrugs and smiles casually. “Some other time maybe. I suppose I should get going then, it was nice to meet you Lydia.”

“You too,” she says weakly.

“Scott, buddy, tell your mom I said hi?” 

Scott actually _rolls his eyes_. “Whatever.”

“Okay.” Scott’s dad squeezes his shoulder quickly. “Let me know if you need any more help with” -

“I don't need your help,” Scott mutters. 

“Alright then.” The tiniest flicker of hurt crosses over his face. “I'll see you around kid. Get home safe, both of you.”

“Okay.” Scott barely even looks him in the eye. “Bye.”

“Goodbye.” His dad clears his throat and hovers for a moment before walking away, briskly side-stepping around Lydia and disappearing around the corner.

“So that was your dad,” Lydia says, a little stunned.

“Yeah.” Scott scuffs the toe of his black Vans against the pavement.

“What's he do?” she asks curiously.

“He's an FBI agent.” Scott says it like it's no big deal.

Lydia plays with the hem of her sweater, feeling a little bad, like she's stumbled it something that's none of her business. “I didn't know you were in touch with him.”

“I'm not really. He's paying for some of my tuition but in return I have to uh, come up here every once and awhile to see him, it was part of this whole arrangement he and my mom worked out. I didn't really get a choice.”

“At least he wants to spend time with you,” Lydia points out.

“He's just trying to control me, he knows how important school is to me.” Scott shoves a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I'm just in a bad mood. I really don't like seeing him.”

“That's okay,” she says softly.

Scott twists his mouth to the side, shoulders hunched, looking uncharacteristically vulnerable. “Are you doing anything right now? Want to grab some food?”

Lydia leans in and gently bumps her shoulder against his. “Sure.”

They're in North Beach, not far from where the Hale Ballet Company is located, a neighborhood beloved by locals and tourists alike. They walk a few blocks to a small Italian restaurant and order take-out, Scott gets baked macaroni and Lydia decides on chicken florentine. Scott is weirdly insistent about paying so Lydia goes along with it, watching him count out paper bills on the counter and adding a large bottle of water to their order for them to share. They walk to the edge of Washington Square Park and sit down on a bench, Lydia spreads a paper napkin over her lap before taking her container of food from Scott.

“You start at the company next week, right?” Scott pops the plastic lid off his take-out container and scoops a chunk of mac and cheese onto his fork.

Lydia nods, taking a bite of her food; she's hungry after doing all that work in physical therapy so she takes a few more bites in quick succession and wipes her mouth with her napkin. “When do you and Allison start, after Labor Day?”

“Yeah.” Scott trails his fork through his food. “I can't believe it's only a few weeks away.”

Lydia swallows, every time she thinks about Allison being so far away from her she feels a little lightheaded. It scares her, being so far apart. She's never really wanted to be anywhere without Allison. 

Next to her Scott gently bumps his knee against hers. “Don't worry,” he says, like he can read her mind. “You guys will talk all the time.”

“It won't be the same,” she says softly.

Scott stabs at his mac and cheese. “Yeah, I get it. You know, Stiles and I have never lived this far apart either. It's gonna be weird for all of us.”

“Yeah.” Lydia takes another bite and chews while counting to ten in her head before catching herself, she's trying to let go of her obsessive need to count everything she puts into her mouth but sometimes the habit takes over.

“Hey, how about this? I'll look out for Allison for you if you look out for Stiles,” Scott suggests.

“Deal,” Lydia agrees, although if she's being honest with herself Scott takes care of all of them better than she ever could and there's a part of her that's afraid of him being gone too - he's the one they all go to when they need help, he always seems to know intuitively how to take care of them.

He's become the center of their group that way, there's something about him they’ve all started to depend on. Something good, something strong, something that makes Lydia want to be better, try a little harder.

They're all better when they're together, she thinks.

Scott clears his throat. “Hey, look, I'm sorry about before, with my dad.”

“It's fine, I get it,” she reassures him.

“Oh right.” Scott stares distantly off at the sky, the sun is just going down and everything is tinged with gold. “When did your parents get divorced?”

“When I was ten. They separated officially right before I started at HSB. They used to fight a lot, they always did, but when I got into the school he didn't want to move to Beacon Hills and my mom, she knew how badly I wanted to go there and they never - I don't think they were really happy together anyway.”

“Yeah, same.”

Lydia glances sideways at him. “You were pretty young when they got divorced, weren't you?”

“Yeah.” 

“Do you know why they broke up?” She's immediately horrified at herself for asking. “I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that.”

“No, it's okay.” Scott's mouth twists to the side. “My dad drank too much. Treated my mom like shit. They got into it one night and I uh, I came out to see what was going on and my dad grabbed me. He tried to take me back to my room but I was fighting him, I didn't - I didn't want to leave my mom out there with him I guess and he… he accidentally pushed me down the stairs. And that was the end of that.”

Lydia stares at him, her food forgotten in her lap, her mouth hanging open like an idiot. “ _Scott_.”

“It's okay,” he says quickly. “I don't even remember it, I found out way later that it happened. He was drunk, it was an accident.”

“It's not okay,” she argues, her cheeks hot. “Just because he didn't mean to hurt you doesn't make it okay.”

Scott ducks his head a little. “No, I know. I just meant - it was a long time ago.”

Lydia feels something in her throat tighten, like she's going to cry. She sets her food down on the bench beside her and leans her head onto his shoulder, reaching up to curl her hand around his bicep. Scott's always seemed so solid to her, unshakable, _good_ , that the idea of someone hurting him, even accidentally, is anathema, it makes her sick to think about.

“Hey, it's okay.” Scott bends down and kisses the top of her head. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.”

Lydia closes her eyes for a moment and lets Scott put his arm around her so she can feel him breathe against her, calm and steady. She forces back tears as she looks up at him, warm concerned eyes meeting hers. “You sure you're really okay?”

Scott blinks, looking a little surprised, but then he nods, serious. “I'm sure.”

She exhales slowly. “And I thought my dad sucked.”

“It's been awhile since you've seen him, right?”

“Years. I don't think - he wasn't really ever that interested in being a dad. He did all the right things - came to my recitals and and ate dinner with us every night, paid for everything he was supposed to, it's not like he was totally absent. But I don't think he ever really wanted to just. Spend time with me.”

“His loss,” Scott says softly.

She looks up at him again, wondering how any part of that man she just met, the father Scott described, could make a person like Scott. “You turned out really good,” she murmurs. 

Scott flushes a little. “Thanks. My mom knew what she was doing, I guess.”

Lydia sighs wistfully, she hasn't seen Nurse McCall since school ended and she misses her. “I love your mom.”

“She loves you too,” Scott says immediately. “She's always kind of been like that.”

“Awesome?”

He laughs. “Yeah, she's pretty awesome.”

“You don't mind sharing her with a bunch of neurotic ballerinas?”

“I happen to like neurotic ballerinas,” he teases gently, making her smile. Scott gives her shoulder a little squeeze before stretching his arm out to grab her food and sets it back on her lap. “C’mon, your food is gonna get cold.”

They eat the rest of their pasta in amicable silence, watching a dog wrestle with a toy on the grass while his owner lays out on a blanket reading a book. When Lydia's finished Scott shoots her an unmistakably proud smile and gets up to throw their trash away, Lydia stands up from the bench and shoulders her bag, watching him laugh at the dog when it runs up to head butt him before he walks back to her.

“Do you want come back to the apartment with me for a little bit?” she offers. “You haven't seen it yet and I think Isaac's there, he and Malia were going to do a movie night, I bet they'd love to see you.”

“Yeah, that'd be cool.” Scott grins at her. “Thanks.”

“Sure.” Lydia calls a car and walks up the block with Scott to wait, leaning next to him on the sidewalk.

“Hey,” Scott says hesitantly. “I don't - I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything or not but I just want you to know, I think you really look great. I mean, not like that, just, you seem like you're feeling better and it shows, that's all. I - we can all tell that you're working really hard.”

Lydia flashes him a tight smile, a little embarrassed but also pleased. “Thanks. You can compliment me whenever you want.”

He laughs, looking relieved. “You know that offer still stands, right? If you ever need someone to talk to?”

“Yeah,” she says, and wonders for what feels like the millionth time what on earth she did to deserve a friend like Scott. “Yeah, I know.”


End file.
